March against time

Jeff Bercovici spent four years busting his butt so the rest of us can stay fitter, healthier and more competitive as we age. He subjected himself to a Japanese blood-flow-restriction technique, spent several minutes inside a chamber kept at minus-220 degrees Fahrenheit and thought he was going to die of exhaustion (and probably embarrassment) at an elite training facility in front of the National Hockey League’s Arizona Coyotes.

Play On explores the science and strategies (some legit and others hype) behind getting the most out of your body for as long as you can. Because, as Bercovici writes, age and sports are inseparable.

“If you are a sports fan, once you pass age 30, you become keenly aware of professional athletes’ ages,” says Bercovici, who grew up in Milwaukee and will appear at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery Building, 330 N. Orchard St., on Oct. 13, at 1 p.m. “You can’t ignore it.”

Indeed, the continued success of world-class athletes like Michael Phelps, Serena Williams, Roger Federer, LeBron James and Tom Brady — ages 33 to 41 — defies the conventional wisdom of aging. And even without access to the world’s best coaches, trainers and nutritionists, everyday male and female athletes can get more from their aging bodies simply by staying active.

“The stuff I found to be most useful from my research is not the gee-whiz science or high-tech gear,” says Bercovici, who is 41 and the San Francisco bureau chief for Inc. magazine.

Rather, he recommends periodization training — changing your routine at regular intervals to keep your body working hard while also giving it adequate rest — and being more attuned to body movement elements such as balance, stability and mobility when training.

“It ultimately comes down to the ability to stay healthy, more than a reliance on speed and strength,” Bercovici concludes. “We can’t control getting older, but we can control how we get older.”